Day 61: Corn & Oil

  • 2 1/2 oz rum
  • 1/2 oz Falernum
  • 4 dashes Angostura
  • squeeze of lime

Today William and I went to the grand opening of Isla, a new rum and tiki bar by the Péché team. I’ve been waiting for this bar to open for several months and was very excited! I was pretty much immediately in love with the place. Among the cocktails we tried was this one. It’s a great rum drink if you usually drink your rum on the rocks. The Falernum gives it some interesting sweetness and the little bit of lime gives it a fresh bite. I think this will likely be in heavy rotation at home.

Day 37: Between the Sheets

  • 1 1/2 oz dark rum
  • 1 oz cognac
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz curaçao

This is one that I saw on a menu and didn’t even realize that it was a classic with an established recipe. So I took a stab at at it on my own, and it’s definitely a bit off. Even with the dark rum it mostly tastes of citrus. The recipes I found also use light rum, so I’ll try and follow an existing recipe next time.

Day 34: Queen’s Park Hotel Super Cocktail

  • 1 1/2 oz gold rum
  • 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
  • 1/2 lime juice
  • 1/2 oz grenadine
  • 4 dashes Angostura

I tried to order the tiki book I’ve been borrowing from my coworker but they were out of stock on Amazon, so I decided to go ahead and pick up the newest one from Beachbum Berry. It’s a lot more storytelling than recipes, but it’s super interesting and does have a fair amount of punch recipes. I saw this one while flipping through it and the record four dashes of Angostura drew me in. It’s a fairly sweet drink with a nice tart mouthfeel.

Day 30: Aquadisiac

  • 2 oz gold rum
  • 1 oz lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz Orgeat syrup
  • 1/2 oz blue curaçao

My brother was having a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy themed birthday party tonight, so I offered to make Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters for the event. All the recipes I found online for this fictional drink looked absolutely awful, so I decided to find something in the tiki book. I figured blue curaçao would be apt, as well as something that included lemon. I found the Aquadisiac. It turned out mostly ok. I specifically asked that my brother pick up a gold Barbados rum, and this one was not my favorite. I don’t have a ton of experience with Barbados rum, so maybe next time we’ll try something different.

Day 25: Kikuya Lapu

  • 1/4 oz cranberry juice
  • 1/2 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz orange juice
  • 3/4 oz pineapple juice
  • 3/4 oz grapefruit juice
  • 3/4 passionfruit syrup
  • 3/4 oz honey syrup
  • 1 1/2 oz dark rum
  • 1/2 oz 151 rum
  • dash Angostura
  • 6 drops herbsaint
  • 3 drops almond extract

When I saw this recipe in the book I was amazed to discover that I had all of the juices needed for it in the house already. SO MANY JUICES. The almond extract gives it a nice fragrance, and the assortment of juices ends up blending into a non-specific “tropical” flavor. This, like a lot of tiki drinks, is very easy to drink and will probably get you very drunk very quickly if you don’t watch out.

I also learned a bit about the drink’s namesake, Lapu Lapu. Who knew that making cocktails could also teach you about history?

Day 24: Don’s Special Daiquiri

  • 1 oz dark rum
  • 1/2 oz light rum
  • 1/2 oz Passion Fruit syrup
  • 1/2 oz honey syrup
  • 1/2 oz lime juice

I showed a colleague of mine the blog because I knew he was also a cocktail fan. The next day he lent me his tiki book. I spent most of Friday making as many cocktails as I could based on what I had in the house, just to practice a bit. The book is absolutely fantastic! I am definitely picking up a copy of my own at some point.

I got some Passion Fruit syrup when I made a liquor store run today since I noticed that so many recipes used it. The recipe calls for “gold Jamaican rum” and “light Puerto Rican rum”, so I used what I found to be close enough. (The book actually has a really good section on types of rums that I will use when I make up my next shopping list). This was pretty sweet, and easy to drink. I might try a more boozy variation at some point.

Day 23: Mai Tai

  • 1 oz dark rum
  • 1 oz light rum
  • juice of one lime
  • 1/2 Orgeat syrup
  • 1/2 orange curaçao

A few years ago we threw a “July in Christmas” party, which was basically a beach-themed party in the middle of winter. I decided to mix up a big punch bowl full of Mai Tai. Shortly before the party Dane came home from running some errands. “Oh, you’ve got the punch ready!” He tried a little bit, then looked me dead in the eye and said “You can’t serve this to people, you are going to kill them. We’re going to have people passed out all over the lawn.” So we added about a carton of orange juice to the bowl.

So. Mai Tais are a pretty powerful cocktail, not well suited to serving out of a punch bowl. I still have a zillion limes at home and I’ve been inclined to make drinks that remind me of summer (even though nothing is alive right now to make a proper garnish), so today you get another rum drink. I’m thinking of trying a new light rum next time I hit the store. If you have any suggestions, send them my way.

Day 19: Daiquiri

  • 2 oz rum
  • juice of one lime
  • 1/4 oz simple syrup

I’m back home after the burn and I’m exhausted, a little sick, and sunburnt, so the last thing I wanted to do was make a complicated cocktail. I have about a dozen limes at the house so I immediately thought of a daiquiri. The white rum I used is kind of astringent. I might try a nice dark rum next time for a bit of a sweeter finish.

Day 15: Death & Co The Gift Shop

  • 2 oz white rum
  • 3/4 oz lime juice
  • 3/4 oz simple
  • 1/2 oz Cynar
  • 1 dash Angostura
  • cucumber slices

Muddle cucumber slices, then shake over ice with all ingredients. Strain into a rocks glass and garnish with another cucumber slice.

Wait. Have I somehow made it a full two weeks without a rum drink? Tonight we fix that. Here’s another from the Death & Co book, and yet another reason for me to practice my shaking. (I am extra terrible at shaking drinks.) The recipe calls for Cardamaro, which of course I didn’t have. I was reading up on it and as soon as I saw “artichoke” I thought: CYNAR! LET’S DO THIS.

This reminds me a lot of a Pimm’s Cup. I’m also starting to get over my fear of heavy-handed simple syrup use after these last two drinks. Generally I only use one or two barspoons of syrup because I don’t want my sweet tooth to oversweeten drinks for other people, but both of these drinks were well-balanced. I will definitely start playing with more syrups in addition to the heavily-boozy cocktails I often make.